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April 23, 2013

600 border violations by China along LAC since 2010

China's "deeper" troop incursions into Ladakh have set the alarm bells clanging in the Indian security establishment, even as defence minister A K Antony
on Monday asserted that all necessary steps would be taken "to protect
the country's interests" in the continuing face-off between rival
soldiers in the Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) sector.

India has
recorded well over 600 "transgressions" - the government's euphemism for
cross-border intrusions - all along the unresolved 4,057-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) by the People's Liberation Army over the last three years.

While the sheer number of the incidents itself is disquieting, the
Indian establishment is more worried about the "brazen military
assertiveness" being shown by the PLA in all the three sectors of the
LAC -- western (Ladakh), middle ( Uttarakhand, Himachal) and eastern ( Sikkim, Arunachal) - in recent times.

"Ladakh in particular — in DBO and Nyoma sectors as well as Trig
Heights and Pangong Tso lake — is being targeted. Though Chinese troops
usually go back after marking their presence, they are increasingly
coming deeper and deeper into our territory with the aim to stake claim
to disputed areas," said an official.

This comes in the
backdrop of a PLA platoon setting up a temporary camp, with soldiers
pitching tents to coolly settle down, around 10 km inside Indian
territory in Burthe area of the DBO sector last week, as was then
reported by TOI.

India also moved forward a platoon of Ladakh
Scouts to station them just about 500 metres from the Chinese tented
position, which is at an altitude of 16,800 feet. "Our soldiers are
conducting 'banner drills' (waving banners and placards at the Chinese
troops to show it is Indian territory) through the day," said another
officer.

"We held a brigadier-level flag meeting with the
Chinese troops on April 18 to resolve the issue but nothing much came
off it. We have asked for another flag meeting," he added.

India is also working the hotlines of the new bilateral boundary
coordination mechanism, which became operational last year after the
15th round of border between national security advisor Shivshankar Menon
and his Chinese counterpart Dai Bingguo, to resolve the stand-off.

"We are in touch
and flag meetings are going on. There is more information to come. We
will factor all that and then take a final view," external affairs
minister Salman Khurshid said.

But the fact remains that India has become extremely wary of China's
cartographic aggression, coupled with the Beijing-Islamabad nexus, in
the region. Pointing this out, Antony had warned at the recent Army
commanders' conference that this hardening Chinese stand on the boundary
issue was "not likely" to change even with the new leadership led by Xi Jingping taking guard in Beijing.

"Therefore, there is a need to constantly develop our capability to
achieve minimum credible deterrence, even while we seek a peaceful resolution of the issue," he said. times of india